OP-ED
Maryland
jurisdictions join “back from the brink” nuclear war movement
By DAVID GROSSO, BILL HENRY and TOM HUCKER
BALTIMORE SUN |
DEC 16, 2019 | 8:37 AM
Fear of a
nuclear attack rose last year after President Donald Trump responded to North
Korean Leader Kim Jong Un's threats against the United States by saying,
"They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen."
(Toru Hanai/Reuters)
“A nuclear war
cannot be won and must never be fought.”
— President
Ronald Reagan in his 1984 State of the Union address
U.S.
presidents have always understood the calamitous power of nuclear weapons. They
held the fate of our planet and human civilization in their hands with sole
authority to launch a nuclear warhead that could not be recalled.
Under
President Donald Trump, the danger of putting planetary fate of the world in
the hands of one person has never been clearer. He refuses to listen to, or
abide by, the advice of our career military and diplomatic experts. His
ill-advised and impetuous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria is only the most
recent example. Since taking office, President Trump has abandoned the
multilateral agreement that constrained Iran’s nuclear program. He also
announced plans to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty,
which for more than 30 years banned intermediate range missiles and has
contributed to stability in Europe.
According to
the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: “The INF treaty’s potential death
foreshadows a new competition to deploy weapons long banned. Unfortunately,
while treaties are being eliminated, there is no process in place that will
create a new regime of negotiated constraints on nuclear behavior. For the
first time since the 1980s, it appears the world is headed into an unregulated
nuclear environment — an outcome that could reproduce the intense arms racing
that was the hallmark of the early, unregulated decades of the nuclear age.”
President
Trump has implied a willingness to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear
nations and his administration’s Nuclear Posture Review expands an already
dangerous nuclear arms buildup.
As leaders of
the Greater Washington area, home to the seat of our federal government and
headquarters of its military — we are particularly at risk. We are living in
the crosshairs of America’s enemies, both hostile governments and terrorists.
These weapons
take a fiscal toll as well. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the
United States is projected to spend roughly a half-trillion dollars on its
arsenal over the next decade. Breaking down that huge number shows that
Montgomery County residents paid $308 per person, Baltimoreans $171 and D.C.
residents $306 in 2019 to support this arsenal. All Maryland taxpayers together
will pay approximately $1.42 billion this year; money that would have been
better spent on fixing our failing infrastructure, expanding public transit to
better connect our area, supporting public education, housing and healthcare.
The Montgomery
County Council has joined Baltimore and Washington, D.C. with its own “Back
From the Brink” resolution to support the U.N. Nuclear Ban Treaty, alongside
the U.S. Conference of Mayors and 40 municipalities and state legislatures from
California to Maine calling on the Trump Administration and Congress to
exercise global leadership in preventing nuclear war by:
·
Renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first;
·
Ending the President’s sole, unchecked authority to launch a
nuclear attack;
·
Taking U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert;
·
Canceling the the $1.7 trillion dollar plan to replace the entire
U.S. nuclear arsenal with enhanced weapons;
·
Supporting the U.S. entry into the Treaty on the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons; and
·
Requiring the U.S. to pursue a verifiable agreement among
nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.
The U.N.
treaty is two-thirds of the way toward the 50 ratifying nations needed to make
it operational, whereupon nuclear weapons will be prohibited, stigmatized and
eventually eliminated.
Until that
time, we have added our voice to the growing call for changes to take us back
from the brink of nuclear annihilation. While past presidents have worked to
reduce the risks, President Trump has increased them. We can no longer trust
our impetuous president to do what’s in the nation’s, and the world’s, best
interest. That’s why it’s imperative that as elected officials and individuals,
we speak out.
Councilman
Bill Henry (bill.henry@baltimorecity.gov) has
represented the 4th district of Baltimore City since 2007. He introduced the
“Back from the Brink” resolution which passed the full Baltimore City Council
in August of 2018.
Councilmember
Tom Hucker (tom.hucker@montgomerycountymd.gov)
has represented the 5th district of Montgomery County since 2014. He introduced
the “Back from the Brink” resolution which passed the full Baltimore City
Council in August of 2018.
Councilmember
at-large David Grosso (dgrosso@dccouncil.us) was elected
to the D.C. Council in November 2012 to represent residents in all eight wards.
He introduced a “Back from the Brink” resolution in January 2019 that was
passed unanimously by the DC Council in March.
Copyright © 2019, Baltimore Sun
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives."
Eugene Victor Debs
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